Cops bust hotel-based drug operation

NORTH SIDE — Chicago narcotics investigators have broken up an open-air drug market run out of a North Side hotel and arrested 16 people suspected of being involved, police announced Monday.

The suspects face drug-related charges, police said.

The sting resulted from Operation PhD, an undercover police probe launched in September, targeting the buying and selling of illegal substances that allegedly took place in a single-room-occupancy hotel in the 1100 block of North Paulina Avenue.

The investigation arose from an increase in narcotics activity in the area and complaints by community residents about the alleged peddling of illegal substances that was going on inside the hotel, police said. Drug transactions involving narcotics cops posing as buyers were filmed.